What is an ATS?

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is the software companies use to collect job applications. When you upload a resume, the ATS turns it into plain text and fills a candidate profile from it: name, email, phone, jobs, schools and skills. Recruiters search and read that profile, often before they ever open your file.

The ATS doesn't see your design. It sees text in the order the file stores it. A two column layout can come out with the sidebar in the middle of a job, a phone number drawn as an icon turns into junk, and contact details in the page header may not be read at all.

Tool description

Choose your resume as a PDF, DOCX or TXT file. The tool reads it the way a simple ATS does and shows the profile a recruiter would get:

  • Name, email, phone, location and links
  • Jobs with title, company and dates
  • Education with degree, school and dates
  • Skills from the Skills section
  • The plain text the ATS reads, which you can copy or download

The ATS checks list what can go wrong: no readable text (a scanned resume), missing contact details, nonstandard section headings, jobs without dates, columns, tables or text boxes, and unreadable symbols. Your file is read in your browser and never uploaded.

Tips

  • Use plain headings such as Experience, Education and Skills. "My Journey" or "Where I've Been" won't be found.
  • Write dates like Jan 2020 – Present on the same line as the job title.
  • Keep your email and phone in the body of the page, not in the header or footer.
  • If a field says Not found, look for that part in the plain text. That's what the ATS had to work with.

Real ATS products differ, and some are smarter than this one. If your resume reads well here, it should read well almost everywhere.